


the Friends you Find, not Make

by cyndrat



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Gender Identity, Genderfluid Character, High School, Road Trips, Xavier Institute, ignoring '80s opinions on gender identity and sexuality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-26 12:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12557612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cyndrat/pseuds/cyndrat
Summary: Some X-Gene carriers have it easier than others. Some have subtle abilities, like being able to keep a cup of coffee at exactly the right temperature. Some have naturally blue skin and can shapeshift. Some mutations are obvious from the day a person is born, some are revealed by pure accident.Alice never thought she'd end up in New York state, at a school for mutants, but hey, neither did she think she'd find a best friend who could literally replicate anything they wanted.





	1. Chapter 1

“Come on Quinnie, you’re totally a Ravenclaw – cause if that’s how you understand yourself, then I totally don’t care what the test said this time,” I tell my friend, bumping my shoulder against his. “Besides, you don’t seem overjoyed at the ‘Hufflepuff’ assessment, and unless you’ve been deceiving me for the past like six years, you looove us ‘Puffs.”

He sighs, stuffing his hands into jacket pockets as we step into the foyer. “I don’t have a problem with it, I just… I can see it, I guess, but I’m just not feeling it.”

I grab his arm, swinging myself into his path and momentarily stopping both our movement. “Hey. I don’t think I’ve met a category personality test that doesn’t have some sort of bias. Right?” Quinn rolls his eyes but nods, a slight smile playing around his lips. “The way I see it, your House is exactly the same as gender, or sexuality – if you figure out something that you personally identify with, then claim that shit and don’t let anybody take it from you!”

He laughs a little, gaze dropping. “Thanks Alice,” he says, lifting his eyes almost shyly to mine.

I smile widely, shifting my grip to his hand and tugging him forwards with me. “Now if we don’t keep moving, we’ll completely miss the show!” Quinn snorts, hurrying forwards at my side across the foyer and through the front doors, swinging our clasped hands between us.

“This won’t be the last time Mia, Roman, and Layla are going to practice where the whole school is allowed to watch, you know.”

Laughing, I lead us down the most well-used path from the front. “I know. It’s just… It still, hm, surprises and excites me, I guess, to see such freedom of dozens of mutants together.” ‘Surprise’ was not really the word I want; I simply find myself revelling in this place and the opportunity it holds for people like us to learn and grow and master a part of ourselves that the rest of the world was still not entirely comfortable with. “We were lucky, you know?” I say quietly, glancing at Quinn sideways. 

He hums in response, pale eyes falling on the small crowd of students coming into view, huddled around the edge of a small, usually-only-decorative pond. Suddenly, a brunette appears up above the crowd and does a flip, laughing in mid air. “Levitation,” Quinn murmurs, voice dreamy, “practically proper flight.” I press my lips together to soften my grin. Even after his impromptu, assisted fall last May from a few storeys more than generally recommended, my friend still dreams of flying on his own.

“Don’t ever give up on your dreams Quinnie, okay?” I request softly as we slow to a stop, settling ourselves in to watch from behind the Filipino twins. My friend squeezes my hand briefly in response, his eyes glued to Mia’s form as the 13 year old jumps and flips around an African-American woman crouching on the middle of the pond.

“Any time now, Roman,” the woman sighs loudly, her tone carrying just a hint of anxious irritation while her dark eyes seem to hold an amused gleam as she apparently waits.

With a low chuckle, the brunet teen standing closer to the pond than the rest of the onlookers lifts his right hand elegantly, the movement accompanied by a slight whoosh as air moves. A flick of his wrist shifts the nearly invisible gathered air, leaving just the hint of a wake as a trail on the surface of the pond. Layla twitches her own fingers and then there is a great many droplets moving along with the air, ever closer to the woman and the girl doing aerial acrobatics. The two older participants share a quick grin, then Roman moves his hands about in an elaborate dance, sending swirls of controlled air every which way to batter at Mia’s flowing movements. The girl laughs loudly, taking the challenge in stride. Layla slowly rises from her crouch on the water’s surface, turning to follow Mia’s acrobatics with sharp eyes as her own hair bounces in the winds despite the ponytail she’s got the curls in. As Mia dips within three feet of the pond’s surface, Layla acts, shoving an arm of water surging upwards to grab the girl, encasing her in a fluid wrap and forcefully stopping her movements. A string of giggles comes from the trapped girl – showing that she can breathe easily and is not at all concerned about the turn of events.

“I yield,” Mia calls out cheerfully, and Layla makes a show of rolling her eyes, then snaps her fingers, the water encasing the teenager immediately dropping to rejoin the mass of the pond. Mia appears to fall for a moment, startled by the sudden release, but catches herself before she falls into the water.

I turn to Quinn as the crowd of students started to move around and dissipate into smaller groups. “She’s getting better,” I note, feeling my face stretch into a grin. “Remember when you tried to replicate stairs to-“

“Yeah yeah,” my friend says, cutting me off quickly before I get to the really embarrassing part. “Remember when you realized you couldn’t make things infinitely? I’m recalling a certain morning near Lake Superior-“

“Okay I get it,” I laugh, and toss my arm around his shoulders, hugging him close with one arm. “Turns out you can’t make just anything, sometimes you have to find a solution that already exists.” While kids like Mia had the opportunity for years of practice at Xavier’s mansion, we had had to learn on the go, stretching ourselves with no knowledge of our limits – putting us almost a little at odds with the rest of the School’s population. But we were finding places where we fit, together and on our own. Just the next stage of exploration.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another chapter!
> 
> FYI for anyone curious, updates are likely to be sporadic, as NaNoWriMo starts in like two days and this is not my dedicated NaNo piece, so yeah.

“Could you…” Kitty rasps, then stops, eyes running hurriedly over her bedside table and falling on the glass of water that is probably just out of her reach. I step closer, grasping the glass and sliding it to the side of the table beside the bed. She gives me a painful smile as she reaches for it, taking a long, slow drink. “Stay?” she asks softly, not even trying for more words this time. 

I run through my list of Things To Accomplish Today, realizing that while there are several things on it, none of them will take terribly much time. I could probably spare a few hours. Smiling, I nod. “Sure.” In silent response, Kitty points at me – no, behind me. With a half turn, I see the armchair that has likely been dragged from the corner that looks like it is set up for reading. I grab it and lift – surprised at the weight of it, then surprised at myself for not expecting it. When I set it down within reach of the bed, I sit down, realizing that it’s actually a rather comfy chair, perfect for spending hours in without getting uncomfortable. But of course, everything I had seen in the mansion so far was like that – chosen with thought to the long term, items that will last through generation or, alternatively, several children and adolescents using and occasionally misusing them. I turn back to the girl lying on the bed, who already looks halfway to unconscious. “Would you like me to read or something?”

“Tell me,” she starts, with a quiet voice, almost shy as she plays with the edge of the top blanket, “tell me about you? And Quinn?”

“Alright,” I say, glancing across the room, out the window to where Quinn is sitting on a bench, a semicircle of kids clustered around as he plays around on his guitar. I take a quiet moment to consider what to tell the fourteen year old, wondering if I’ll need to censor any of the story I suspect she truly wants to hear. I decide that I’ll just start, and as I go on I can just watch the girl for cues. “Well, I’m Canadian. Spent the first twelve years of my life on Prince Edward Island, then my dad and I moved halfway across the country to Winnipeg. Dad got in touch with an old friend from university who had a farm about an hour out from the city, and that became our base of operations for anything mutant powers related. It’s where I learned to make stuff on purpose. It’s also where I learned about acceptance and support from others who were just as weird as I was and who didn’t care a bit. It’s what got me through middle school, really, and the first bit of high school too.” Those Lowrie kids, only half of them had powers, but as most were adopted, they all understood being the odd one out, trying alternately too hard or not hard enough to fit in, struggling to make a connection with someone, anyone in the class.

“Now, Quinn? He found me,” I say, settling on that as the opening of the next stage of my life, so to speak. “Although as he’ll happily tell you, he wasn’t Quinn back then – he was still going by his birth name, Seraphina or Sera – and was only just beginning to understand the concept of gender as non-binary, let alone what that meant to him personally.” Pausing, both for a breath and to decide how to continue, I smooth out the fabric of my skirt with one hand. My skirt now, but Quinn’s back then, along with probably a quarter of my closet in Dad’s house by now. A few, choice feminine pieces I had brought with us, feeling a deep warmth at the look on Quinn’s face that was always this side of possessive whenever I wear one of his memories.

“We were in grade 10. There was a truly awful teacher that Quinn had for English, so he managed to finagle himself into my section. Of course, that meant we were both in class with the most overtly xenophobic student in the school, probably. I remember,” I say, glancing up to Kitty’s face and wondering if I was babbling and boring her terribly yet, but decided that she had asked, so she would get the story as it came to me, “there was one day that kid was picking on a girl just after our last class – she looked young enough that she must have come to the high school to walk home with her brother – and Quinn and I both just swooped in without a word, Quinn physically shielding the girl, and me, I got up in his face. Can’t for the life of me recall what I said, but he paled real quick and scampered off. Quinn and the girl, they were both staring at me with these wide, admiring eyes when I turned about, and- And I couldn’t entirely believe they were actually looking at me like that.

“After that, Quinn and I really started to get to know each other. My house for supper, his house for watching movies. Then one day at his place, he slipped.”

“Slipped?” Kitty echoes, and its clear from her voice and expression that she doesn’t quite understand what I mean.

Crooked grin on my face, I raise an eyebrow and waggle my fingers at her mysteriously.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo origin story! sorta...
> 
> Heads up for next chapter, it's gonna be a little bit of a different format...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tense change ahead! (with reason... *waggles eyebrows mysteriously*)

Seraphina stretched, yawning widely while I snuggled down into the warm space she had just left. “Alice, don’t-“ she started to say, turning to look at me, but apparently I already had, so she just sighed in soft amusement. As she shuffled some stuff around and made noise, I folded the blanket over and cracked my eyes open to watch her eject the VHS, sliding it back into its sleeve. She half turned, meeting my gaze and smiled. “Do you want anything to drink before we collapse into sleep?” I pause for a moment to consider the offer, then shake my head. “Okay, well I do, so I’ll be right back?” It sounded like a question, so I nodded in response, continuing to watch as Sera swept my massive cardigan over her shoulders then walked to the door.

I ignored the urge to get up and follow closely; so I felt a little uncomfortable around Sera’s parents and the watchful, almost harsh vibes they put off, in addition to the strict rules in place whenever she had anyone over. But it was fine, they had okay’d the sleepover (after half a dozen of our previous attempts fell through) and actually, they were probably already in bed themselves, same for Sera’s younger brothers. So the only person wandering the house was the one I was completely comfortable with. Well, mostly, I mused, shifting onto my back on the couch and wondering if I could get away with sneaking up one little constellation right _there,_ Draco definitely, I didn’t even have to consider that one-

My friend slipped back into the room, glass of apple juice in her hand and managing to remain oblivious to the way I had tensed up under the blanket. “You gonna make space for me Alice?” she asked, laughter in her voice. I pulled the blanket up to my chin and scrunched up my face, making a show of thinking about it.

“Thought we were gonna go to bed?” I replied as she expertly pulled out a TV table and set it in place near the end of the couch.

“But aren’t we supposed to paint our nails and talk about cute people from school?” I couldn’t see her face until after she put the glass down and turned towards me, expression decidedly excited, and I was certain she was faking it.

“Pff,” I said, drawing my knees up to let her sit on the couch. “Everyone’s cute, you know my opinions.” She giggled, muffling the sound by slapping a hand over her mouth. “Though, I guess, you definitely rank up there.” Her eyes widened a fraction as she sank down on the floor, and wait was she blushing?

Abruptly a soft thunk sounded and she whipped her gaze around the room, practically jumping to her feet in major contrast to the way she had started to relax. Almost before I noticed the second cup, Sera was swearing. “Shit,” she said, eyes wide as she looked to me, then lunged towards the TV table and the extra cup of juice. “Shit shitshitsh-“

My mouth dropped open as I watched her hand bump into the table hard enough to slide both glasses around, the original teetering for an instant on the edge. Without thinking, I sat bolt upright and stretched out a hand, constructing an oddly shaped pillar that immediately formed around the cup, holding it securely so it would not fall further. Sera’s bright gaze swung back to me, her own lips parted as she swore again, this time with a completely different tone. “Damn.” Her voice was admiring, as if we hadn’t both just inadvertently put our powers on display in front of each other for the first time.

“Uh,” I said, feeling that some sort of noise from me was necessary but without thinking it through far enough to voice anything intelligent.

My friend pivoted, letting her knees touch down on the carpet and shuffling closer. “I think I want to kiss you now,” she informed me before grasping my outstretched hand and bringing it down to rest in my lap, slowly moving closer. I swiped my tongue over my lips, suddenly wondering when the last time I actually put lip balm on was- And Sera was moving slowly still, giving me plenty of time to consider it and move away, if for some crazy reason I wanted to. Abruptly certain, I lifted my free hand and swiftly curved my fingers around the soft skin of the back of her neck, fluttering my eyes closed as I leaned towards her and pulled her closer. I felt the soft puff of her breath an instant before our lips touched, each of us pressing gently against the other. It was surprisingly nice, but even nicer was the way Sera pulled back then wrapped her arms tight around me. I pressed my hands into her back, feeling her ribcage expand and shudder as she exhaled relievedly. Lifting my chin to rest on her shoulder, shoving memory ghosts aside as soon as I thought of mom holding me tight before I- I squeezed my eyes shut, breathing in the subtle scents of fresh peppermint and lemon that regularly wafted from Sera.

This, right here and now, was what love felt like.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is going to be how it'll go generally, however many chapters at the Mansion, then however many in the past as the journey is told, then however many chapters at the Mansion, then.........


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back to the Mansion! Tense change! Surprising questions!

Kitty’s eyes are wide and I pause, giving her a clear opportunity to speak. “So are you and Quinn like, together?” I’m not certain whether her tone is awed, appalled, or confused, but I do know that I should clarify immediately.

“No,” I say quickly. “No we never really… got together? We only ever, like, kissed a little. But nothing else.” I can feel heat in my cheeks, and decide it’s time to go on with my story, considering the girl looks rather awake now. “So uh, anyways. After that, Quinn started joining me and Dad at the farm every week for practice and stuff. It was actually pretty great, I got to spend half my weekends almost exclusively with my two favourite people at the time. We ran in the massive yard, we climbed apple trees, we played with the Lowrie children and the dogs, we made art with haystacks… We explored our abilities, too. At sixteen years old, Quinn could replicate anything smaller than he was – by accident, mostly when he was tired or distracted. Still happens on rare occasion, but first thing we practiced was controlling it, replicating stuff on purpose, which seemed to pretty much take care of the erratic occurrences.

“It was awesome, because my efforts got tons of practice catching stuff Quinn accidentally made, but once he was doing it on purpose, it got really fun. Something we did was mirror each other, basically. We took turns making or choosing something, challenging the other to recreate it. That’s when I actually started to improve, after about a month something just clicked, and I figured out different textures, different colours, different weights. When Quinn makes something, it’s an exact replica unless he tries really, really hard and drains himself even now, but when I make something, it can be as big as a car but light as fifty pounds. Also, after seeing Quinn manage it, I chanced on the discovery that I could absorb stuff I’d made, so to speak, and reuse the energy to make something else. Super exciting.” I glance to Kitty, and see that while she looks engaged, she also looks like she is beginning to droop. “Being able to reuse, remake stuff meant I could finally stop littering our section of the farm with chunks of weirdly shaped, smooth, dark green _things._ ” That surprises a weak laugh out of the girl, and I find myself grinning at the sound while it lasts.

“Actually, that was pretty much the best way to explore my powers I could hope for, even now. No judgement, no pressure, just… excited, supportive people,” I say, watching Kitty as she blinks heavily and seems to relax almost against her own will.

“Question,” she murmurs, seemingly fighting unconsciousness hard in favour of learning more, so I quickly nod for her to continue. “What happened to your mom?”

My mind shutters to a blank for a moment, then abruptly half answers swirl without abandon through my head. _I was too weird to mother properly… She realized dad had ‘betrayed’ her from the day they met… There was no place for me to fit in her perfect life… She didn’t want a mutie for a kid…_ I close my eyes for just a second, willing the unwanted tangle to disappear long enough for me to form an acceptable answer. “Alive. Not someone I care to think about.” _Or who cares to think about me._ Kitty makes a soft sound as her eyes fall shut heavily, lashes fluttering against her cheeks. And then she is silent, breathing evening and slowing – sleep. I take a long breath of air, then let it out in one shaky whoosh, confident the teenager is too far gone to be woken by something so subtle. This is… something I should have expected, I suppose, but still.

At least, it seems without a doubt, that I am released from my impromptu storytelling session. Now for what might turn out to be a mini rant/therapy session with Quinn.

I stand, lifting the chair enough to move it back a few feet and turn towards the door, fighting myself to not flee from the room. I cross the floor steadily, thinking about each footstep until I finally reach the door and yank it open, sliding into the hall and taking care to not slam the door. Quinn is still outside, so I point my feet to the closest door to the outside and walk, barely managing to acknowledge the few kids in the hall with a nod or a smile without daring to stop. Quinn, my favoured form of calm, is outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is that teenage angst I see? er well, early-twenties angst...
> 
> Deciding to play around more with parents/family differences is quickly becoming a recurring theme in my 'Alternate Usses' pieces it seems...

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo this idea happened...  
> Side note, some canon characters will appear eventually... Whenever I think of writing fanfiction, I find myself shying away from playing with existing characters and end up writing what is, in essence, a self-insert sort of AU.
> 
> Also, as per tags, I am gonna be totally ignoring whatever common opinions on genderqueer stuffs and sexuality from the 1980s (which is when I'm softly setting this) because that's more research than I'm prepared to do for this thing right now


End file.
